Author: Bogdan Penkovsky 2021-05-17 19:32:08
Published on: 2021-05-17T19:32:08+00:00
A draft proposal for a new Bitcoin proof-of-work (PoW) called Optical Proof of Work (oPoW) has been shared with the Bitcoin development community. The proposal aims to reduce Bitcoin's reliance on massive energy consumption, which has led to mining centralization and limits participation in the network. oPoW is designed to shift the operating expenses of mining from energy to hardware without compromising the cryptographic or game-theoretical security of Hashcash. This could allow billions of new miners to enter the market simply by investing in a low-energy photonic miner. The authors suggest that eliminating the exponentially growing energy use currently built into Bitcoin without eliminating the security of PoW would be ideal. They recommend updating the underlying PoW protocol as Bitcoin grows from a small network run by hobbyists to a global currency. Recent events, such as the hashrate crash due to coal-powered grid failure in China and Tesla’s rescinding of its acceptance of Bitcoin as a form of payment, show that there are practical real-world downsides to Proof of Works’ massive reliance on energy.The article discusses how shifting the economics of PoW towards capital expenses can lead to a reduction in energy consumption and geographically distributed mining. The authors introduce "HeavyHash," a cryptographic construction compatible with ultra-energy-efficient photonic co-processors for performing MAC operations. The article provides the algorithm's pseudo-code and explains how random matrix generation is obtained in a deterministic way and changed every block.The PoWx organization has proposed a new method of PoW for cryptocurrency mining called oPoW. The oPoW uses photonic processors that utilize waveguides in silicon to perform matrix-vector multiplications essential for mining. They have developed an example code to obtain the matrix M using a pseudo-random number generation algorithm. The geographic distribution of mining activity relative to the CAPEX/OPEX ratio of the cost of operating a single piece of mining hardware was discussed. A change in the block reward schedule currently implemented in Bitcoin was recommended by the authors to incentivize miners with transaction fees only.The implementation of oPoW on the Bitcoin network does not necessarily require a hard fork and can be added as a dual PoW to Bitcoin as a soft fork. The PoWx organization believes that they will be able to demonstrate commercial low-energy mining on their network in the next 6 months due to significant progress in optical and analog matrix-vector-multiplication chipsets over the last year.
Updated on: 2023-05-21T02:34:40.802978+00:00